Am I Stigmatized? An experimental examination of high-status experiences of stigma.

Stigma is a highly researched aspect of social psychology primarily focusing on outgroup perceptions of stigma or the behaviors associated with high-status individuals toward low-status individuals. Two studies sought to explore high-status perceptions of perceived stigma, focusing on the common variables associated with stigma within low-status groups. This was to address a growing perception among high-status individuals that they experience stigma given their identity. As a focus, this study sampled White Males (Study One) and Christians (Study Two) from the United States. As part of experimental manipulation, we presented participants with three potential conditions. Condition one where participants read an article asserting their group would lose majority status in the future, condition two where participants read an article asserting, they would experience little to no loss of majority status, and condition three as control. This study then used a series of measures including a measure of individual and group stigma modified for the target group, the Quick Discrimination Index as a measure of prejudice, group with emotion self-report measures where participants indicated what groups they identified as being emotionally associated, a measure of individual self-esteem, measures of individual and group power, as well as moderators of social dominance orientation and collective self-esteem. For Study two, we also included measures of concealment and disclosure, given Christian identity can be concealed. Findings indicated that while the manipulations had little to no effect on the dependent variables, Social Dominance Orientation was most likely associated with perceptions of stigma. Further, it appears there is a perception of lower collective self-esteem for those who perceive themselves to be more stigmatized and higher self-esteem for those with lower perceptions of Stigma.